Hi all and it's good to be back (been a year or two).


!977 F150 base. 300 6cyl, 3sp manual

My question involves the housing for the instrument cluster and the printed circuit. A very long time ago I had occasion to replace the instrument cluster housing in my truck. Problem is I don't recall if I replaced it with an exact match or "close enough". Also I don't remember swapping the printed circuit or just using the one that came with the replacement cluster.

I've had this truck for better than 20 years and at first wasn't much for keeping records of what was replaced.

My question is this: If you got a truck and it had no instrument cluster in it at all, like say a salvaged truck. Is it possible to determine if it originally had gauges and idiot lights or the other,...just gauges.

I put aftermarket oil pressure and water temp gauges in it when I first got it so no, the obvious answer, to look at the senders...is not an option.

Was there a difference as far as the high-beam indicator lamp is concerned. The printed circuit I have includes one but the housing for the cluster doesn't.

Is it possible to tell by the wiring at the plug? Would there be any difference. Long ago I believe I was told that the truck would have been wired for either option of lights and gauges.

To sum it up folks, I really don't care which way I go but I surely would like to have it as it was originally.

The printed circuit and housing I have now are both pretty well shot and as long as I'm restoring the interior, I'd like to get it right.

Any answer's , anyone? Thanks.

 

The plugs that plug the harness into the PC board are different between gauge and light clusters. As I recall, the gauge plug has room for 18 wires, the light plug has room for 14.

 

the two high beam indicators i know of are both from my trucks with gauges (never had one with just 'idiot lights')

my 74 high beams is a red light to the right between ammeter and temp gauges which is what is the seatbelt light on my 76 and 78. on the 76 and 78 the high beam indicator is referred to as the "high beam jewel" with a small rectangle blue light above the center of the speedometer. so im not sure if the boards are different between these two or if the inputs are different. should be simple enough to use your seatbelt lightbulb for your high beam indicator except it will have the wrong words.

this would be a good one for numberdummy or mikeo0o0o0 to see how many boards exist?

 

Also, the main wiring harness is not an either/or. Gauges and lights have their own specific harness and don't interchange.

 

Oil/Amp Gauges vs Warning (idiot) Lamps: Printed circuit boards and instrument cluster backs are also different.

1975/79 F100/350's, 1975/80 Econolines & 1978/79 Bronco's came with instrument cluster backs made of a composition material that can TURN TO DUST before your very eyes!

1981: Ford installed hard plastic cluster backs in Econolines. These were also the 'service part replacements' for the POS composition cluster backs.

Some of the POS cluster backs have been replaced by the hard plastic type, but some have not.

E1PZ-10848-A .. Hard Plastic Cluster Back ~ Use with Oil/Amp GAUGES / Obsolete ~ CARPENTER NOS OBSOLETE PARTS in Concord NC has 450 = 800-476-9653.

Factory installed: 1981/91 Econoline / Retrofit: 1975/79 F100/350 / 1975/80 Econoline / 1978/79 Bronco.
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E1PZ-10848-B .. Hard Plastic Cluster Back ~ Use with Oil/Amp WARNING LAMPS / Obsolete ~ CARPENTER has 68.

Factory installed: 1981/86 Econoline / Retrofit: 1975/79 F100/350 / 1975/80 Econoline / 1978/79 Bronco.

Same printed circuit boards:

With Oil/Amp GAUGES = 1976/79 F100/350 / 1976/91 Econoline / 1978/79 Bronco.

With Oil/Amp WARNING LAMPS: 1976/78 F100/350, Bronco & Econoline // 1979 F100/350 & Bronco / 1979/86 Econoline.

 

Wow, thanks all for the good info and prompt reply.

Yeah NumberDummy, as you pointed out there were cluster backs made of a composite and on my truck, it did exactly what you described...it crumbled before my eyes during a full restore 12 years ago.

Thanks for jogging my memory. It makes perfect sense now. I replaced the cluster back with a junkyard special but re-used the same printed circuit. (there are 14 wires in the plug & 14 terminals in the PC board.)


Notice that in the junkyard cluster back there is no hole for the high beam indicator. My speedo is original and does have little blue light.

Bottom line, originally mine was gauges and warning lights. The cluster back is wrong, and the printed circuit is correct but is shot and needs replaced.

Problem solved and thanks everyone for the help! (pretty bad for an old Ford parts clerk, 'old-school' 10 feet of catalogs on the counter. I can't remember squat these days)